The Washington Post
By Associated Press, Published: November 28 2011
MORRISTOWN, N.J. — A former church janitor accused of killing a New Jersey priest took the stand in his own defense Monday, telling jurors the priest had touched him sexually in exchange for keeping silent about criminal charges the janitor was facing.A lawyer for Jose Feliciano says his client has admitted to killing the Rev. Edward Hinds in October 2009 in the rectory of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham. But Feliciano has argued he snapped after unspecified threats from the priest, and he is seeking to get the charge downgraded to manslaughter.
Prosecutors say Feliciano stabbed the priest 32 times because he was going to fire him for his refusal to submit to a mandatory fingerprinting and background check required of all church employees who worked around children.
Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi has sought to portray Feliciano as a cunning liar who methodically planned the crime and its cover-up to the point that he stole the priest’s cellphone and ripped a rectory telephone handset out of the wall after the dying priest tried to call 911 for help.
Hinds had been about to fire Feliciano — and even marked Friday, Oct. 23 in his calendar as “Jose — last day,” Bianchi said during opening arguments, after the janitor had refused to submit to the mandatory employee background check under the “Protecting God’s Children” program put in place following the international church sex-abuse scandal.
Police also found evidence on Hinds’ computer that he had accessed paid investigative sites, trying to do his own criminal background search on Feliciano, Bianchi said.
Feliciano is scheduled to resume his testimony Tuesday in state Superior Court in Morristown.